


!thgir ti ta kool uoy fi gnimlaC

by cosmic__boi



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Dark, I'm Sorry, M/M, Mild Gore, Post-Season/Series 05, Songfic, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic__boi/pseuds/cosmic__boi
Summary: Song: 'The Mind Electric' by MiracleMusical (Tally Hall)Jonathan gets sentenced to the electric chair... yes, it's as dark and grim as it sounds.
Relationships: Jonathan Crane & Jervis Tetch, Jonathan Crane/Jervis Tetch, mentioned
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	!thgir ti ta kool uoy fi gnimlaC

**Author's Note:**

> Clarifications on the proceedings are at the end notes.
> 
> I really like this song and wanted to write a songfic for this pair, but the idea that came out was really dark... so I went with it. This is the end result.

Jonathan Crane was barely 20 years old, and all he could feel was  **pain** . A dazzling white filled his vision as bolts of brilliant blue flashed across his sight. Was it in his mind, or was this all he could see? Were his eyes even open? He can’t remember where he was...

A haunting voice pushed past the void of sense, and although Jonathan could not hear the sounds of the machines around him, nor the electric bolts shooting into him, nor even his own wrenching screams, the voice, singing, made it through. 

_ Think of these thoughts as limitless light _ _   
_ _ Exposing closing circuitry of fright _ _   
_ _ Think of each moment holding this breath _ _   
_ _ As death minute in decimal- _

Another voice now- what was it? A memory, painful and smelling vaguely of lemon polish, which was better than the current smell. Not that Jonathan was conscious enough to even distinguish the scent of burning flesh...

_   
_ _ Resident minor how do you plead _ _   
_ _ We'll need your testimony on the stand _ _   
_ _ Solemnly swear to tell the whole truth _ _   
_ _ So help you son now raise your right hand _

_   
_ _ Father your honor may I explain— _ his own voice now?— _ My brain has claimed its glory over me.  _ _   
_ _ I've a good heart albeit insane- _

_   
_ _ Condemn him to the infirmary _

Arms, now long gone, pulled Jonathan out of the courtroom, dragging him away. Away to Arkham. But it had been a while since he had first gone there...

_   
_ _ All mine towers crumble down the flowers gasping under rubble _ _   
_ _ Shrieking in the hall of lull thy genius sates a thirst for trouble _

The voice was picking up now, piercing through more and more. Louder, faster, more pained. It began to grow distinct, Jonathan thought he might even recognize it...

_   
_ _ Scattering sparks of thought energy _ _   
_ _ Deliver me and carry me away _ _   
_ _ Here in my kingdom I am your lord _ _   
_ _ I order you to cower and pray _

It was shrieking now, the voice, screaming the song. Pain, Jonathan realized, the singer was in pain. Like him. 

_   
_ _ Nuns commence incanting as the lightning strikes mine temples thus _ _   
_ _ Electrifying mine chambers wholly scorching out thine sovereignty- _

Ah yes. He was being executed. By electric chair. But who was that voice, who could be in pain like Jonathan was...

_   
_ _ So-so-so-so-so-so-so-so spiraling down thy majesty… _

And another memory came bubbling up to the surface of his boiling brain. It was Jonathan, in ragged clothes. He was pleading, crying, seventeen, and a gun in his face. 

_   
_ _ I beg of thee have mercy on me _ _   
_ _ I was just a boy you see _ _   
_ _ I plead of thee have sympathy for me _

Fourteen when first shipped off to Arkham, seventeen when first breaking out. He was barely twenty now, as electric jolts courses through his body, melting and burning everything inside of him. Why couldn’t they just all see, see he didn’t mean to become this, see-

_   
_ _ See how the serfs work the ground  _

_ See how they work  _

_ And they give it all they've got _ _   
_ _ And they give it all they've got _ _   
_ _ And you give it all you've got 'til you're down _

Was the singer crying now? No, Jonathan hated that sound. He hated hearing that voice cry, it hurt him like his entire body felt as it shook in agony. Why couldn’t he remember that voice, now turning sour and bitter...

_   
_ _ See how the brain plays around _ _   
_ _ And you fall inside a hole you couldn't see _ _   
_ _ And you fall inside a hole inside a- _

_ Someone HELP ME- _ _   
  
_

Jonathan pushed his arms into what he thought to be upwards, hoping to break free, not to escape his own painful end, but to just get to that voice- God he just needed to get to them, more than anything else-

_   
_ _ Understand what's going on inside my mind _

The voice had gone shrill, strained, and yet projected clearly out.  **Calling** out. 

_   
_ _ Doctor I can't tell if I'm not me- _

And there it was. Amongst all the mush that had become of Jonathan’s brain, one thing clicked. that voice. Always rhyming, a male one, which, although screaming not moments ago, could be low and timber, soft and dangerous. The voice that Jonathan possibly loved most in the world. 

Jervis. 

Jervis. 

Jervis. 

Jervis. 

Jervis. 

Jervis. 

He didn’t know if he was conscious anymore. He didn’t even know if he was alive anymore. He had stopped screaming, only barely muttering that singular name over and over again. First as a pained whine, crying out softer and softer, before chanting it, the only tie he had left to life itself. 

There it was again- weak and yet pronounced, calling out in response, before- 

_   
_ _ When it grows bright the particles start to _ _   
_ _ Marvel having made it through the night _ _   
_ _ Never they ponder whether electric _ _   
_ __ Calming if you look at it right!

Jervis gave one final triumphant note before the voice ceased into silence. Jonathan struggled more in his bounds, begging, pleading, to see Jervis. He forced his head to the side, but he couldn’t see anything. Why couldn’t he see anything?? His screams crescendoed up, painful shrieking, begging all that had ever existed to just stop it all. 

And then it did. 

**Author's Note:**

> ok so to clarify, this takes place post-S5E11, sometime before the 10 year jump, Jonathan and Jervis are sentenced to the death penalty by electric chair together. Jonathan remembers some of his memories, mostly pleading innocence and failing. Jervis, instead of wordless screaming, is screaming a somewhat nonsensical song. Jervis dies first, and Jonathan tries to see him, but the procedure for the electric chair is to bind the eyes closed, because they tend to melt. 
> 
> Technically what’s supposed to happen in the electric chair is you get knocked out by the electric jolts and a few more jolts kill you. However, there have been plenty of documented cases of people shrieking in pain during the ordeal, obviously not completely unconscious. 
> 
> Also, as to Jonathan’s age, mid season 1, it’s stated that “6 or 7 years ago” his mother died, and he was 8 years old when that happened, so mid-season 1 he’s roughly 14 and a half, so let’s round that number to the beginning of each season: 14 at the beginning of S1, three years in Arkham so S4 he’s 17, beginning of S5 he’s 18 (rough estimates).


End file.
